


'Pet Store' -- What An Unoriginal Name

by orphan_account



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Animals, Fluff, Gen, Kittens, M/M, Pet Store
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-23
Updated: 2013-08-23
Packaged: 2017-12-24 08:52:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/938024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pleading, desperate eyes meet Dean’s as Castiel snuggles the kitten. “I promised Sam a dog,” is all he can say, biting his own tongue to keep the ‘yes we can get the kitten’ at bay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	'Pet Store' -- What An Unoriginal Name

'Pet Store.'  _What an unoriginal name,_  Dean thinks to himself as he glances at the boring red logo warily. It had taken weeks for Sam to convince him to come here and pick up a dog— why Sam couldn’t do it, Dean had no idea. When Cas heard about the idea, he wanted to join along and help with the final decisions. If Dean was being completely honest with himself, he couldn’t make up an argument against it. The guy had a lot on his plate right now, and who was Dean to deny him the pleasure of finding a pet to call his own? Well, his, Sam’s, and Dean’s, but still.

It would take a lesser man.

”What should we name him?” Castiel asks before they’re even fully out of the impala. Dean can practically feel the excitement bubbling off of the fallen angel, and had to admit it was contagious.

Dean smirks at him. “I don’t know, depends I guess.”

"Of course," Cas nods, incredibly focused for an answer so insignificant. Dean feels his smirk widen ever so slightly into what could  _maybe_ _possibly_  be a grin if you squinted real hard and looked from a distance. The guy makes him happy, so what?

Apparently, what makes Castiel happy is animals. All sorts of animals. Dean knows about the bees, but once they step inside through the automatic sliding glass doors and he turns away for no more than two seconds, Castiel is nowhere to be found.

"Son of a bitch…" Dean mutters to himself, wondering where the man  _honestly_  could have disappeared to. “Like a fucking child, I swear.”

Pet Store— seriously, did they even  _try_  with the name? —is a lot bigger inside than it appears to be. Rows after rows after  _rows_  of shelves extend in front of him, holding various supplies for caring for your animal. He can hear the loud barks of dogs echo throughout the place.

 _Must be the high ceilings,_  he muses, wondering exactly how he’s going to find Castiel. He could call his name, sure, but wouldn’t that seem a little odd? It would draw attention, most definitely.

For a stabbing, sad moment, Dean wonders if Cas can still hear his prayers, or if that ability disappeared when he grace was stolen, like a lot of the other things Cas enjoyed. He couldn’t fly, if that was even what he was doing in the first place. Teleport? Whatever, get from Point A to Point B in 0.00000000001 seconds flat, he couldn’t do  _that_  anymore.

Dean wasn’t even fully sure of what he  _could_  still do, because he doesn’t  _want_  to do anything. It’s been three months since Cas had found himself at the bunker, and four since the angels fell. Ever since he showed up at the front door, Castiel had been moping about in some weird form of denial. His stomach would growl, but he said he wasn’t hungry, then muttering very quietly that ‘angels don’t eat.’ He had passed out four times,  _four actual separate times_ , because ‘angels don’t sleep.’

Simply being in the same room as the man made Dean’s heart break, but he tried very hard to stay by his side. Castiel needed a friend, and he needed Dean more than either of them wanted to admit. It was okay though, because Dean needed Cas, too.

On the nights where Cas refused to sleep, Dean decided he would refuse with him, and together they stayed up until the next day, watching reruns of Star Trek and whatever DVDs they could find. Dean tried to teach Castiel how to play poker once, but he couldn’t focus enough to even deal the cards correctly, so they settled for a game of Go Fish without any rules. It was really just picking up cards and then setting them down again, but after being awake for thirty-seven hours straight, neither of them could care.

Sometimes Castiel would skip dinner, so sometimes Dean would, too. He wasn’t sure what his motive was, but eventually Cas started to feel guilty for forcing Dean to hold himself back, so he took small bites of each meal, and Dean did the same. It wasn’t exactly preferable, but Dean was sick with worry otherwise, and hey, at least Cas was eating a little bit. Baby steps.

It had been three months, and still Castiel wouldn’t speak depth of what had happened the night the angels fell. “I was fooled again,” he had told Dean and Sam when he arrived that first night he showed up, dirty and smelly in clothes that did not look like Cas-clothes. And he didn’t have the trenchcoat. Perhaps that’s what struck Dean the hardest. Castiel continued, “I was fooled, and I… I fucked up.”

The words felt foreign to Dean’s ears, and he sent a shocked look to Sam, who replied with one of concern. Everything has had its ups and downs since Castiel found a permanent home with the boys, at least they had  _hoped_  he thought of it as a home.

Maybe that’s why they’re getting a dog today, and maybe that’s why Dean let Cas tag along. So that he felt he had something to come back to, just in case the Winchesters weren’t ever enough.

Brushing the last thought aside, Dean sticks his hands deep down his front jean pockets and begins his search for Cas. He almost laughs at how many times he’s done this,  _searched for Cas_ , just on a less physical level. It usually involved desperate prayer, not wandering around a pet store actually named Pet Store, but Dean wasn’t complaining. If he had to pick, then he’s already got what he wants.

The first four aisles on his left are consumed with fish related products, ranging from food to— toys? Do fish play with toys? He goes in deeper, until he’s maybe ten aisles in, and that’s when he sees him.

 _No,_  he thinks to himself, taking a deep, rooting breath.  _Anything but the kittens._ Dean finds himself regretting ever agreeing to this. Castiel is sat crisscross on the ground with a  _kitten_  in the crook of his arm. A cute little white and gray thing, with white paws. It’s laying on it’s back, and playing with the fingers that Cas offers him.

In front of the pair is a Pet Store employee, crouching down and grinning at Castiel like he’s the most amazing thing she has ever seen, and oddly enough that makes something hot burn in Dean’s gut. Is that—  _holy shit,_  is that  _jealousy?_  Stalking over (motherfucker, yes it is) Dean stops a good five feet away and clears his throat, hoping he’s not close enough to the feline to have an allergic reaction.

He is not going to embarrass himself after surprisingly quickly and easily accepting his jealousy over the thought of someone else oggling Castiel, and whoa, what does he mean  _someone else?_  Who oggled him in the first place?

Dean won’t admit just yet that he knows the answer.

The man in question looks up at him with those soft, denim blue eyes that could melt anyone’s heart.

"Dean," he says quickly, overexcited. "Dean, I have found the perfect kitten."

"Whoa, whoa," Dean replies, holding up his hand to stop Cas from bringing the kitten any closer when he goes to stand. "Cas, we can’t get the cat."

3… 2… 1… Cas’ face falls. The penny has dropped. “Why not?”

"Because I’m allergic."

The gray kitten nuzzles up against Castiel’s chin, and  _oh okay_  that isn’t fair, that is just really too precious for words.

"There are pills for allergies," the store clerk enters the conversation, and startles the hunter. He had forgotten she was there. "Y’know, if you’re up for that."

Pleading, desperate eyes meet Dean’s as Castiel snuggles the kitten. “I promised Sam a dog,” is all he can say, biting his own tongue to keep the ‘yes we can get the kitten’ at bay.

"Is Sam your guys’ kid?" She asks, even though his words weren’t directed at her. It takes Dean a moment of confused staring before he understands what she’s implying, his entire face suddenly growing hot as he stumbles across his words.

"Oh no, I— I wasn’t— and he— we aren’t, this isn’t— I, um, no— because— I’m not— and Sam isn’t our— and I didn’t—"

"Dean," Castiel’s voice breaks through whatever barrier he was having difficulties with, and a blushing Dean turns his full attention to the grown man looking so normal yet so  _not_  without his trenchcoat. He’s holding the itty bitty tiny little gray and white kitten with cute paws that look like she took a stroll through melted white chocolate close to his chest, and begging with his eyes. “Dean please, look at how cute he is. I even have the perfect name.”

 _Shit_ , he can feel the yes coming. Dean takes a deep breath and tries to stop himself, but his lips are forming the word, and then somehow, “Dog,” is all he says. It’s a miracle.

Castiel’s eyebrows knit together at this. “But I want the kitten.”

"And Sam wants the dog."

"But the kitten is right here."

"I’m sure the dog is here, too. Maybe not  _here_  here, but no more than two minutes by foot, I can assure you.”

Cas sighs. “We’re getting the kitten, Dean.”

"I’m allergic," Dean reminds him. "We’re getting the dog."

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, because Castiel passes the kitten to the employee and walks right into Dean’s personal space. “Dean,” he says in a deep, no-nonsense tone. “We are getting this kitten. For every time you say no, I will pick another. And we will take that one home with us too. Do you understand?”

"Cas," Dean starts, mouth dry. Possibly because Castiel’s voice sounds like pure  _sex_ , and Dean can’t even think straight. Trying hard and failing  to keep his gaze away from the fallen angel’s lips, he continues. “We can’t, because, um. B-because I’m allergic!”

Castiel sighs and shakes his head, turning back to the employee as she returns the kitten to his arms. “Do you remember the calico one? The boy? I like him, we’ll be taking him too.”

She hesitates, glancing between the two of them, until Cas offers a private ‘ _please’_  that sends her off to the kittens with only a single cautions look at Dean. When she returns with mentioned kitten in hand, Dean realizes that Castiel was serious.

"I can’t believe you," he says, backing up further. Now he’s got two kittens to worry about, the white and gray one snug in the crook of Cas’ arm, apparently happy with the idea of coming home with them, and the calico one reaching up to toy with Castiel’s ear. Cas doesn’t seem to mind.

"Dean, I gave you fair warning."

"We can’t have the kittens, we came here for a dog!"

Shaking his head slowly, almost like he’s  _disappointed_ , Castiel turns back to the woman. “Orange, a girl this time, thank you.” As she runs off, he evenly stares at Dean, who stares back slack jawed, not even comprehending what’s going on. Cas really won’t stop until he has his kittens, will he?

When the girl comes back, Castiel thanks her again and welcomes the little orange thing into his arms with the other two. She curls up on top of the gray and white one, and Dean gives up.

"Fine," he runs a hand through his hair and tries to ignore the way his chest feels tight at the smile on Cas’ face.  _Stupid bastard…_  “You’re going to litter train them and you’re going to have to feed them and clean up after them, okay?”

Castiel is practically bouncing with happiness, and Dean can’t hold back his pleased smile. He’s making Cas happy. He can take some allergy pills so that Cas can keep his kittens, honestly, how hard can it be? They’re just kittens, right?

"Thank you, Dean." His smile is wide and appreciative, and when he shares that look with the kittens (the calico one starts purring at him, little bugger) Dean figures that it’ll all be worth it, just to see Cas smile like that. He can’t remember seeing him so elated, hell,  _ever,_ but especially not in the past three months. Dean starts to wonder how soon he can get those allergy pills.

They spend the next two and a half hours buying cat food, six separate food and water bowls (“What? Don’t look at me like that, Cas. They can’t just  _share_  bowls, they each have to have their own.”), two large bags of little, a litter box, and proabably-unnecessary-but-hard-to-resist-plus-Cas-thought-the-kittens-would-enjoy-them toys.

On their way home, Dean only sneezes seventeen times. Castiel does the unwelcome job of counting, but Dean lets it slide, instead watching him out of the corner of his eye as he tries to play with the kittens in their travel cage thing. They’re all sharing one, because unlike food bowls, that is acceptable behavior.

When they reach the bunker, Dean carries in all three bags of cat things and refuses to admit that they’re already spoiled by the two men. What’s he going to tell Sam?  _Oh hey, I know I promised you that dog and all, but we ended up getting three kittens instead because they made Cas happy, so shut up and deal. Also I need allergy pills or I might die_. It was true though, Dean’s eyes were already starting to feel a bit watery, and his throat was tighter and a bit itchier than it was three hours ago. Well, shit.

"How’d it go?" Sam calls from somewhere unseen in the bunker as soon as Dean and Cas walk through the front door. Castiel closes and locks it behind them, and then walks through some rooms to get to the couch that the brothers had put in when they decided that chairs at all times just  _weren’t_  going to cut it.

"Well, it went," Dean tells him. 

Sam appears out of the kitchen and eyes the bags. “What’s in there?”

Sighing, the elder Winchester asks quietly, “Would you believe me if I said shit for kittens?”

"You got kittens?"

"I was talked into it."

"You went for a dog."

"I know what I went in for," Dean snaps at him, setting the bags down.

"You’re also allergic."

"No shit, Sherlock, when’d you deduce that?"

Sam puts his hands in surrender. “Look, I’m just saying. How did Cas even convince you to get them?”

Dean huffs, crosses his arms, uncrosses them, and wills the blush from his cheeks. It doesn’t work. He looks anywhere but Sam’s eyes as he crosses his arms yet again, and murmurs, “He really wanted them.”

"You got him three kittens because he  _wanted_  them?” _  
_

"Look Sam," but he has nothing to follow it up with, so he drags his hands over his face. "I need allergy pills. When can I get those?"

All amusement leaves his brothers face and is replaced with that of concern, which may just be worse. “We can get them tomorrow.”

"Yeah, thanks Sammy."

"Why’d he get three anyway?"

Dean groans, and begins to answer, when Cas answers from behind him, making him jump and catch his breath. How does he  _still_  manage to sneak up on him?

"Dean kept arguing, so I kept taking kittens."

And somehow, the explanation is enough.

..:|:..

Dean gets his allergy pills, and it takes a couple days, but they do end up working pretty well. He’s even spent some time holding the kittens, and that was actually really exciting for him, he’s never done that before. They’re soft, and fluffy, and they’ve got these big eyes, and tiny teeth, and claws that they unfortunately can’t retract.

Also, Dean doesn’t know their name. Two days pass since they had taken the kittens home, and the Winchesters didn’t know their names. Dean remembers Cas saying that he had the perfect name, at least for the gray and white one, and Dean was tired of referring to them as little ‘its’, so he decides to ask.

Castiel looks happy to answer, but his eyes hold a certain sadness to them as he and Dean sit on the couch, the calico kitten napping in Dean’s lap while he scratches between his ears, the orange one lying on her back in Cas’ lap, and the gray and white one licking at Dean’s fingers and sliding his tail between Castiel’s, sitting between the two men.

"This one," he says, nodding his head toward his lap, "her name is Anna, and that one," he nods to the one in Dean’s lap, "is Gabriel."

Dean’s smile is watery for reasons aside from allergies. He looks at the unnamed little gray thing sitting between them, purring. “So what’s his name?”

"Oh, he’s my favorite," Cas says, voice low and quiet. Dean looks up in time to see a heavy tear streak down his cheek. "His name is Samandriel."

He pulls the kitten in question close to his face and snuggles him, and the purring grows louder. Dean scoots closer, trying very hard not to wake the calico kitten, Gabriel, and leans into him too with the hopes of offering comfort.

"It’s my fault Samandriel died," Castiel whispers, maybe to the kitten, maybe to Dean, maybe to the heavens, assuming heaven was still around. "And it’s my fault that Anna died."

"You don’t have to blame yourself, Cas. Their deaths had nothing to do with you."

A bitter laugh is the only reply he gets, so they sit quietly for several minutes.

"Tomorrow," Dean begins, "we can go back to that pet shop and get them little collars. I think they’d like that."

Castiel leans into Dean, something bordering on cuddling, and Dean wraps his arm around his shoulder. Purely for comfort. That’s all.

"Thank you, Dean." Cas whispers to him.

"For what?"

The fallen angel hums. “For everything.”

..:|:..

When dinner comes around, Castiel fills up the individual food and water bowls for each kitten, and Dean makes PB&Js for the three humans.

When they all sit down at the table, Castiel smiles as he watches Gabriel and Anna drink water from the same bowl, and then he does something miraculous; he actually takes a full bite of his sandwich. And then another, another, until only a quarter of it is left, and he drinks his entire glass of milk, and Dean thinks that maybe getting the kittens was the best thing he ever agreed to.

Hours later, when it’s nearing ten o’lock at night, Castiel takes the kittens in his arms and announces that they’ll be going to bed. It’s another two hours before Dean checks on him, stepping quietly into Castiel’s very own bedroom and using the hallway light to illuminate the room, casting dramatic shadows of a man sleeping in his bed, three little kittens on his chest.

No, two kittens. Gabriel nuzzles Dean’s feet, so he picks him up and scratches beneath his chin, grinning wildly as he looks back at Castiel, actually  _sleeping._  Really, peacefully, honestly  _sleeping_ , and Dean almost feels he might cry.

Castiel is getting better. Samandriel is curled tight against his neck, and Anna is resting on his chest, Gabriel in Dean’s arms, and Castiel is getting better.

Angels don’t eat, and angels don’t sleep, but this one does, this one  _is._ Maybe these damn kittens make all the difference. Dean places Gabriel down on Castiel’s chest next to Anna, and runs his fingers through the man’s unruly dark hair. On his way out the door, he whispers goodnight and heads to his own bedroom, the door falling shut with a soft click.

In the morning when Dean wakes up to start breakfast, Castiel is still asleep, and Dean can’t keep the happiness from showing on his face. He does, however, sneak into Cas’ room and steal the kittens. They’ve grown on him.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic ever (whoa) so I'd really appreciate some feedback!  
> Thank you for reading <33


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